By New Mexico State University NewsCenter

Srikanta Mishra, an assistant professor in the New Mexico State University College of Education’s Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders, and 2014 Emerging Research Grantee, recently received a prestigious research grant to study hearing mechanisms in children.

The R03 grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders of the National Institutes of Health is the college’s first NIH grant, which is known to be highly competitive and supports outstanding research. It provides a total amount of $438,000 for three years.

Mishra said the grant signifies the research capacity of the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders, and showcases the cutting-edge hearing health research conducted at NMSU.

The project will investigate auditory mechanisms in children, particularly how the descending hearing pathway works in children.

“The descending efferent neural pathway runs from the brain to the inner ear. The results of this project will help us understand the role of the efferent system in auditory perception during childhood development,” Mishra said. “The knowledge gained from this project can be applied to develop tools to identify children at risk for auditory deficits and guide intervention efforts for children with listening problems.”

Mishra called the grant “one of the major the pinnacles of my academic career thus far. This will also expose NMSU students from minority and underprivileged backgrounds to high-quality health research.”

Robert Wood, interim academic head of the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders, called Mishra’s research “critical” to both NMSU and audiology in general.

“First, and most importantly, his work has the potential to advance the field of audiology, which is why the National Institutes for Health is funding the work,” Wood said. “In addition to that, this funded project is really the first of its kind here at NMSU, and this will put the Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders as well as the College of Education on the map with federal funding agencies and in the field of audiology. This is a very big deal for us and for NMSU.”

Mishra earned his doctorate in audiology from the University of Southampton, England. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles. Mishra holds a clinical competence certificate in audiology from the American Speech Language & Hearing Association and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Audiology. He also maintains a license as an audiologist in New Mexico.

In the past, Mishra has also received funding from the Hearing Health Foundation to support his research in otoacoustic emissions and pediatric audiology. Mishra serves on review panel for several scientific journals in audiology and hearing sciences and also serves on a NIH study section. For his editorial contributions, he received the 2013 Journal of the American Academy of Audiology Editor’s Award.

Information from NMSU.